Maggie - the host of ‘Manifesting With Maggie’ - is such an intelligent and loving presence that it would be almost impossible not to have a wonderful conversation with her, and we were lucky enough to share the airwaves with various callers, too. I am deeply grateful to all of you for such a magical evening.

We talked about my latest book, ‘Princes, Frogs, and Ugly Sisters’, about Disney’s shameless travesties of the Grimm brothers’ wonderful tales, and about the need to get out there in the world to make things happen - because Cinderella didn’t sit around waiting for her prince. She went out to find him, not just once but three times. And she’s just one example of the determination we need if we’re going to help create our own futures.

There are many ways towards making the future you want, need, and deserve. All of them require your active participation and effort. You are on a Soul Journey, and it is necessary to walk to get to your destination. There will be free rides along the way, but they can’t happen unless you’re already moving along the road.

Bull fighting is an ancient activity in which a very large animal is outwitted by humans and finally rendered into food. The bull-riders depicted at Knossos in Crete are seen celebrating a similar activity that was a regular feature of life about 3000 years ago. It was an important ritual then because it showed that the largest and most powerful creature around at the time could be subdued using human cooperation and skill. It therefore was an inspiring ritual event for those human beings who were present in the unstable and frightening place that was our world at that time.

Even so, it was largely obsolete even 3000 years ago, since herding meant cattle could be slaughtered far more easily. We could, therefore, take the continuation of this odd ritual as a way of reminding the watchers of the savagery of nature (a wild bull is not a trivial creature) and how the wildness and the rage can be brought under total control.

The point is that this is a ritual that seems to have outlived its usefulness by a very large margin.

And yet….. How easily we forget the wild and dark forces of Nature! We all have to wrestle at some point with our private monsters of darkness, and here is a ritual that expresses that, writ large. When Spaniards cry ‘Ole!’ they are actually yelling a corrupted version of Arabic; they’re yelling ‘Allah!’. It expresses the holiness of the bull fighter’s courage and skill, which is seen as a connection to God.

If only we could have the ritual without the cruelty and death.

I like this decorated cow image, because it reminds us, perhaps, about agriculture, animals, and our rooted-ness in this earth we ignore so readily.

We could just as easily say it’s a metaphor for the balance necessary in the Arts. We can get lost in colorizing an image, playing with it, and forget that there is a real world with real demands. The existence of beauty does not, alas, remove ugliness, any more than Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake”, said to the starving people of France, saved her from the Revolution.

The role of the Arts in our world has never been more important.

Gifts are where we find them, and if we’re paying attention they’re everywhere.

Well, so he lost his job. So did an awful lot of Americans whose livelihood was destroyed by his actions or lack thereof. Some of them still haven’t found another job.

But let us not mince words. The guy does all that damage and still gets $ 1 million? I think he should, perhaps, go on trial. Wouldn’t a long jail term and a heavy fine, plus community service (cleaning up oil) be more sensible?

But perhaps you disagree?

What he didn’t realize was that most of his chums were being killed. The camps were what helped him survive.

I’m grateful for that or I wouldn’t be here.

So this little tale reminds us that we never can see the end results of what is going on for us. As Milton said, ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’. Sometimes we have to wait, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important or that nothing is happening.

My father’s name? James. He always thought his saint was looking out for him that day.

The masked bandits have descended on my backyard several times recently, and have romped, scurried, feasted on the tomatoes, and so on. It’s all rather picturesque, especially their wrestling matches. One night they killed something, with plenty in the way of ferocious sound effects, and left shreds of grayish fur behind. That was less pleasing.

But they are fearless. And just as we don’t recognize their right to be in our yards and trash, they don’t recognize our existence either. It’s one thing, I suppose, for us to have lost sight of what nature is about in our insulated world. That’s not interesting. But when creatures in the natural world lose sight of us as creature that can affect their lives, isn’t that different? Because we can affect them. I can get a trap or call the animal control officer and make their existence in these parts a thing of the past.

As the World Wildlife Fund concluded, in fifty years if things carry on in the world as they are now, humans will flourish but almost all other species will be extinct. And if humans were to disappear, in fifty years all other species would rebound and flourish.

So, enjoy the little creatures if you can. One way or another the fun can’t last.

I now know what I would say to his murderers if I were to meet them.

I’d say: “Guess what? We’re all going to heaven, anyway, every one of us. The only difference is that when we get there some of us will be delighted and some of us will be really, really, scared. Which do you think you will be? You can still change your mind about that, you know. It’s not too late.”

Well, enough about me and what other people think of me…..

But please note Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity took a long and bloody detour before it became anything more than a rallying cry against oppression. In that time the entire ruling class of France was executed. Pol Pot got his inspiration from somewhere…..

So here’s the point. The oppression and emiseration of any populace always costs everyone heavily. It may not cost anything today, but the price will be paid, eventually. It will be paid “In blood; it must be human, and it must be innocent.” (W.H. Auden)

That’s a terrifying thought. It’s a good reason to stand against oppressors, too.